Maintaining safe pH

[mrsjoannh13]

I am planning my next tank - a 20g with a betta and about 6 cory cats. The pH of my water is pretty high - about 8.2. In my current tank I've been slowly bringing it down with Fluval peat granules in a mesh bag in the HOB filter. I'm sure with enough of the peat I can get the pH down to 7 when I'm setting up the new tank.

My question is in regards to water changes. When I'm doing my weekly water changes, how do I keep the pH from increasing before the peat granules can lower the pH of the new water that I'm adding in? If I'm doing 20% weekly water changes, will this small amount of new water not really cause distress to the fish? What if I need to do a larger water change and/or more frequent changes due to ich or fin rot or who knows what else.

Maybe I'm over-thinking this and it will be a non issue, but I want to maintain stable water parameters as much as possible. Since my pH is naturally pretty high, I'm just wondering if I should be concerned about the potential variance during the weekly changes.

Thank you!

 

[Sgooosh]

shoudnt be a big problem since you are only changing 20%

 

[Essjay]

You could always run the new water into a container and run a filter filled with peat granules to reduce the pH then add it to the tank. Depending how long it takes, you would need to start getting the new water ready maybe several days in advance which would mean emergency water changes would be a problem.

What is the hardness of the water? If you have hard water you may find RO would be a better option as you have soft water fish.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

You could always run the new water into a container and run a filter filled with peat granules to reduce the pH then add it to the tank. Depending how long it takes, you would need to start getting the new water ready maybe several days in advance which would mean emergency water changes would be a problem.

What is the hardness of the water? If you have hard water you may find RO would be a better option as you have soft water fish.

Hi, @essjay - thanks for your input! I thought the same this morning... maybe I could have a mesh bag of peat granules that I put into my water holding tank to reduce the pH before water change day. It would take a little trial and error to figure out how much to use for how long but it might be an option.

For big (more than 50%) emergency water changes I might keep a little API pH Down on hand and use only if needed.

My water is soft. GH is about 25. So I think I'm okay there. I did get some RO water from my LFS some time back and their pH was so low (about a 6) that it was too different from my water source to use. I was afraid of altering the pH in my existing tank too much by using their RO water for water changes and the LFS is not close enough for me to get to on a regular basis for weekly changes anyway. I bought a faucet filter off Amazon to remove chlorine and nasty stuff like that from the tap. It has been working great.

Thank you!

 

[Essjay]

Does your tap water change pH on standing? Have you tested the pH of a glass of tap water that's been left to stand overnight? Some people with high pH in soft water areas find the pH drops a lot on standing.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Does your tap water change pH on standing? Have you tested the pH of a glass of tap water that's been left to stand overnight? Some people with high pH in soft water areas find the pH drops a lot on standing.

Hmmm - I was not aware of that! I'll give it a shot. But if that logic holds true, wouldn't It eventually drop in my aquarium? Or are there factors that maintain the pH inside the tank?

Thank you!

 

[Essjay]

Yes it would drop in the tank if something was added to the water supply to temporarily increase the pH. It was worth thinking about just in case.